Best road handling 4x4

[bosshog]

MorganP104 said:

If you can put up with the looks, Cayenne diesel.

If you can't, Range Rover Sport TDV8.

If you're scared that a Range Rover will steal your kids' college fund, BMW X5.

If you're worried that owning a large BMW off-roader will make you look like a 2017 version of Patrick Bateman, then you'll just have to get an MPV, and be sad again.

Thanks!
I hear X5 have terrible reliability.
Given the Toureg is made form the same chassis as the Cayenne, any ideas if it handles as well?

[MorganP104]

bosshog said:

Thanks!
I hear X5 have terrible reliability.
Given the Toureg is made form the same chassis as the Cayenne, any ideas if it handles as well?

A friend of mine had a Touareg - it was definitely set up for comfort, as opposed to the out and out handling of the Cayenne.

The good news is that your £20k budget will buy a facelift Cayenne diesel, which is nowhere near as ugly as the original version.

[Horsey McHorseface]

Lambourne(?) lap times:

BMW M2 - 46.2 sec
Porsche Macan Turbo - 46.7 sec

Auto Express shootout by Steve Sutcliffe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVr8XkeuKA

[300bhp/ton]

Horsey McHorseface said:

Lambourne(?) lap times:

BMW M2 - 46.2 sec
Porsche Macan Turbo - 46.7 sec

Auto Express shootout by Steve Sutcliffe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVr8XkeuKA

Lol lap times are just so real world road driving

[popeyewhite]

300bhp/ton said:

Horsey McHorseface said:

Lambourne(?) lap times:

BMW M2 - 46.2 sec
Porsche Macan Turbo - 46.7 sec

Auto Express shootout by Steve Sutcliffe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVr8XkeuKA

Lol lap times are just so real world road driving

Not really any need for that. It is amazing that the Macan is so quick though.

[Timbuktu]

300bhp/ton said:

Timbuktu said:

Of course it will...

Maybe you don't know the meaning of illegal. Or just failed at reading my comment. Either way....

Maybe. Or maybe the statement I was actually replying to was wrong and it is actually you that failed at reading

To suggest "a 1.0 litre city car will cover distances in about the same time as "fast" performance car" is a stupid thing to say.

Maybe if you'd said "when travelling down a motorway at 70mph a city car and a performance car will cover the same distance in the same time", then you'd be right.

Like I said before, you clearly have no idea of what "pressing on" means, in which case I can see why you said what you did.

[037]

I had a Cayenne Diesel for over 2 years, fast enough and handled great. 100% reliable also

[MuscleSaloon]

MorganP104 said:

bosshog said:

Thanks!
I hear X5 have terrible reliability.
Given the Toureg is made form the same chassis as the Cayenne, any ideas if it handles as well?

A friend of mine had a Touareg - it was definitely set up for comfort, as opposed to the out and out handling of the Cayenne.

The good news is that your £20k budget will buy a facelift Cayenne diesel, which is nowhere near as ugly as the original version.

I have a 2013 Toerag with standard suspension and 20" wheels - definitely not a comfort set up. It would be far better on smaller wheels with taller tyres in my opinion as it can be fidgety and crashy on poor road surfaces.

I would never say its a fun car or a drivers car, but I will say it goes and handles very well for its size and weight. Overtaking is easy. Good torque from the V6 TDi and the 8 speed auto box seems decent enough as well. You don't feel any noticeable body roll and you can certainly put it into a roundabout or corner with some confidence. Drives just like a fairly planted large car really.

Cayenne is nice but you should get a far newer and lower mileage Toerag for the same money.

Trip computer will creep up to over 40 mpg with the cruise on at moderate speeds and shows 30+ mpg during mixed use. Not great but depends on what you are used to. Costs a fair bit to fill up if you let it get low but then it does have a decent range on a run.

[blearyeyedboy]

300: You can have plenty of fun in any powerful car below the legal limit.

Rapid Acceleration and Maintaining Momentum
=/= Breaking speed limits

OP: At the risk of sounding obvious, fun is subjective.
Why not test drive a few and see which is most fun?

I'm afraid most SUVs I have driven are proper old school (Discovery, Patrol, etc) and are fun in a perverse sort of way but almost certainly not the answer to your question!

[Horsey McHorseface]

300bhp/ton said:

Horsey McHorseface said:

Lambourne(?) lap times:

BMW M2 - 46.2 sec
Porsche Macan Turbo - 46.7 sec

Auto Express shootout by Steve Sutcliffe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVr8XkeuKA

Lol lap times are just so real world road driving

In this instance, lap times are just as good a testament to ‘real world’ 'best' handling, which is what the OP is asking. It doesn’t quite answer the fun factor, but that’s subjective to the OP. Disregard the lap times, and just listen to Sutcliffe: https://youtu.be/_RVr8XkeuKA?t=26

Edited by Horsey McHorseface on Tuesday 12th September 00:44

[focusxr5]

bosshog said:

I hear X5 have terrible reliability.

Certainly can't say I've noticed any issues with reliability. There's a reason why most Police forces (including my own) prefer them as Armed Response Vehicles. The last ones we had made it to almost 300k before being replaced. we now have the 40d versions in force which are still quick, even with all the weight on board. Definitely try to find one with the upgraded adjustable suspension though. It makes a lot of difference.

As a side note, last year I had a hired X5M50d for a few weeks. Very quick car with a sub 6 second 0-60, 380 ish bhp, it had loads of kit and toys and did 30 mpg average as well as giving my friend's E46 M3 a bit of a fright on the twisties at Loch Lomond. If I could afford it I'd have one tomorrow. Absolutely brilliant car.

[KevinCamaroSS]

For 25mpg + have a look at the WK2 Grand Cherokee CRD. Come in at £20k and gets you 3.0 V6 TD with 240ish bhp, oodles of torque and a pretty good interior. Should get north of 30mpg.

[jmsgld]

We have the X5 40d, it's surprisingly quick for such a big car and the handling is very car like with not too much roll, however on the flipside the ride can be quite harsh for passengers when pushing on, I don't think the 20" wheels and run flats do it any favours in that regard. Pushing on rural / A mixed I get 28.2 mpg average.
I don't like autos but the 8spd gearbox is genuinely very good, if so inclined you can the have the 40d mapped to produce silly torque and BHP although in the real world it's already quicker than the vast majority of cars on the road.

We are selling ours but would be a little over your budget. I'd drive the cars already mentioned (X5 40d, Cayenne, and Toerag) and take your pick. I'm not convinced there's much in it reliability wise, although I'd avoid the 1st gen Cayenne from what I've been told, I'd also be tempted to go petrol on the Cayenne and sod the mpg.

I had a Cherokee once, very capable offroad especially in sand, but the cheapness of the interior and the on road handling put me off Jeeps for life, I personally would't buy anything by Landrover that was out of warranty but they do make some nice cars.

I must admit for a tow car I don't think you can beat an old Landcruiser 80 or 100, slow as hell and likes to drink, but delightfully wallowy and surprisingly luxurious, you also barely notice the trailer. I have a 100 series that I don't think I will ever sell.

[300bhp/ton]

Nothing wrong with how a Cherokee handles on the road. It does worry me when people say such absurd things.

[popeyewhite]

300bhp/ton said:

Nothing wrong with how a Cherokee handles on the road. It does worry me when people say such absurd things.

I ran a Jeep GC for a couple of years. As another poster states - it was very good off road. However, it steered like a boat on the road, and that was with slightly up-rated suspension components. Sorry to increase your worry levels 300bhp/ton

[Aids0G]

Might be a bit late to this one but for £20,000 decent handling lots of go and ability to tow something heavy, hard to overlook a later gen 1 TDV8 Range Rover Sport with around 50,000 on the clock, good noise to (for a diesel) and in normal driving will do 25mpg.

Family used to have one and have had some genuinely fun drives on twisting roads, brakes are mighty and it seemed to go from 0 to 60 pretty much as quick with a couple of tons of gravel on the back! topped out over 135 on the GPS to!

Ours was reliable over 60,000 miles but did need the suspension bushes kept on top of + always need top quality tyres!

Ag

[Alicatt1]

Aids0G said:

Might be a bit late to this one but for £20,000 decent handling lots of go and ability to tow something heavy, hard to overlook a later gen 1 TDV8 Range Rover Sport with around 50,000 on the clock, good noise to (for a diesel) and in normal driving will do 25mpg.

Family used to have one and have had some genuinely fun drives on twisting roads, brakes are mighty and it seemed to go from 0 to 60 pretty much as quick with a couple of tons of gravel on the back! topped out over 135 on the GPS to!

Ours was reliable over 60,000 miles but did need the suspension bushes kept on top of + always need top quality tyres!

Ag

Have had my TDV8 RRS since new in Oct 07 and now done about 90k miles. Things to watch for are the catch on the upper tailgate corroding and can cause the battery to go flat very quickly the other thing is the alternator packing in, mine lasted until this time last year. Every thing else has been fine and the car has been reliable, fuel consumption you can get better than 30mpg easily on longer runs, going to Spain this summer I averaged 34mpg on the back roads we kept off the peage as much as possible, once at our destination we were getting about 14mpg hooning around the gravel tracks in the mountains